If you know me and love me then you know what a kvetch I can be. And, there is a lot to bitch about when it comes to the aesthetics of East Central Illinois. I won’t pull any punches about the paucity of accessible beauty here. For the record, it’s not the ‘flat’ thing. The flat itself is an astounding remnant of continental glaciations that ground nutrient rich limestones into the parents of +12,000 year old grasslands of unparalleled productivity. It’s how the hands of our people have lain upon the flat earth here that leaves us poorer for the effort. If you know me, then you know that I pine for home.
The East Coast of America is a beautiful place, despite, but not invincible to, its population of 40 million. We visited the Connecticut coast of Long Island Sound, and faced the true Atlantic from a New Jersey barrier island. We sucked mountain air from Pennsylvania’s Poconos and visited my stomping grounds of Philly’s Italian Market and the greater Delaware Valley area. We ate seafood: sushi, mussels, fish and chips, fried clam strips, lobster, oysters, garlic crabs, and the piece de resistance: dayboat scallops. If you have never had any of these foods, I urge you: wait until you are out there to do so. Anything else is a facsimile.
We also visited farm markets, an incubating co-op, met an enterprising young couple managing an organic farm, visited with my culinary mentor and a beloved peer. What we learned surprised me. Contrary to that whole West Coast->East Coast->Midwest trend thing, our modest region appears to be a real leader in culturing local eating. For example, while we dished on seafood, we largely abstained from meat while out east. The farmers markets are nascent: two to three years old, but growing well. And, in New Jersey for instance, caterers can’t use eggs from a non-USDA approved site. Here several restaurants use local, state licensed eggs, as do we. We should consider ourselves lucky to have retained what will hopefully become the core of a resurging farming culture (agri-Culture, right?). Back home they have lost most of theirs by now; the valuable land was parceled into mini-estates, starter castles, fashion farms and outright sprawl. Those that remain face high costs of production augmented by limited access to farm resources like feed, tools, and supplies, congested distribution routes, and burdensome taxes. This combo of farm loss and high cost produces a double whammy for young farmers either entering or returning to farm work. It is uphill there (at least they have hills though, right!), but the populace seems willing to buy. Anchor Run CSA whose managers Derek and Dana joined us for homemade pizza one night, have 180 shares in their CSA! That is a massive responsibility. There remain some beautiful, productive holdings in easement or private care that could bring forth really artisanal goods. The professional culinary scene is full of great talents just hungering to get their hands into real food and to get that food in to the mouths of epicures and neophytes both. If you can get it to them, those 40 million souls suddenly look like a great incubator for the food culture that could precipitate so many beneficial changes in our land, home, and country.
In the mean time, I’ll be grateful for what we do have: world class ingredients and farmers without whom we could not do the work we do here.
